firearms

Since the Remington 870 was introduced in 1950 to replace the struggling Model 31, Remington’s has sold a lot of their popular pump shotgun.

Over 11 million, in fact, in a number of variants such as the base model Express, Police, Super Mag, Wingmaster, and recently released non-NFA short shotgun, the Tac-14.

In a live official unveiling tonight, “Big Green” announced their latest variant, the 870 DM, with DM being short for Detachable Magazine, and those detachable magazines being Remington’s in-house production three and six round box mags.

The 870DM line will initially be comprised of six sub-variants including the Hardwood, Magpul, Predator, Tactical, and Tac-14 editions that supplement the base model.

The 870DM base model sports a synthetic stock with “corncob” fore-end and 18.5″ cylinder bore barrel. This model, like most others, will ship with a single six-round magazine.

The Hardwood model is similar in most aspects such as barrel, choke, and magazine, except that – as you might guess from the name – it has hardwood furniture. Both of these models are planned to retail for $529. Continue reading →

The Marine Corps is equipping Marines with a new weapon, providing enhanced concealed carry capabilities at an accelerated rate and lower cost to the Corps.

The Glock 19M—called the M007 by the Corps—replaces the M9 service pistol for personnel requiring a weapon that can be easily concealed.

The Marine Corps requires that all accredited Marine Corps Criminal Investigators, both civilian and military, be armed with a concealable pistol when on duty in civilian attire. This concealed weapon capability ensures those performing official duties—such as law enforcement or security personnel—are not readily identified as being armed.

“The M007 has a smaller frame and is easier to conceal, making it a natural selection to meet the Marine Corps’ conceal carry weapon requirement,” said Gunnery Sgt. Brian Nelson, Individual Weapons project officer at Marine Corps Systems Command.

In coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which adopted the weapon in 2016, the Corps fielded the M007 earlier this year to Marines and civilians in the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division, as well as members of Helicopter Squadron One—also known as Marine One. Continue reading →

Are you Jumping on the New Pistol Bandwagon?

GLOCK may not have won the bid to be the US Army and Air Force’s new pistols (no matter how big or how many tantrums they throw over losing out to Sig), but some of the changes from their “new” pistols seem to have made it into the latest Gen 5 models, just released.

The GunLink team got a few of the new pistols in our hands and it appears that “what’s old is new again” when it comes to some aspects of the latest offerings from the Austrian gun maker. Some of the “groundbreaking” changes on Gen 5 models are really just recycled features from as far back as Gen 2 models, while adding some characteristics for which users have been asking for a while – and some features that, as far as we know, nobody was asking for.

We’ll leave the discussion of Sig Sauer’s P320 issues, differences between the military contract pistols and those sold to consumers, the “I Told You Sos,” “What Were They Thinkings,” and the Recall vs Upgrade debates to our readers in the comments section below and on the GunLink Forums. There are now plenty of videos and discussions going on around the internet that most people by now know that the Sig Sauer P320 can be caused to fire unintentionally (that is, without an intentional, manual trigger pull) by being dropped at a certain angle or even by giving it a firm whack on the behind.

The company has temporarily suspended shipment of the P320 from the factory while they “ramp up to implement changes” related to the condition.

Sig announced last week that they would be issuing a voluntary upgrade to the P320 to address concerns and the details of that upgrade program -which will include “an alternate design that reduces the physical weight of the trigger, sear, and striker while additionally adding a mechanical disconnector” – are now available.

The official Upgrade Program page is up on the Sig Sauer website along with instructions on how to upgrade your pistol at no cost to you. Owners of affected pistols (US domestic commercial customers) may enter their serial number on the website to begin the upgrade process and then Sig “will contact you regarding the best method for you to get your P320 pistol to them.”

Sig continues to maintain that the P320 pistol is safe in its current configuration on the “voluntary upgrade” page, saying that their “mechanical safeties are designed to augment, not replace safe handling practices. Careless and improper handling of any firearm can result in an unintentional discharge.” Take from that statement what you wish, from a company selling defensive firearms that may be used by open or concealed carry practitioners and law enforcement officers, often in the worst of situations that may include physical confrontations and attacks, sweat, blood, dirt, darkness, and other less than ideal conditions.

This reminds me of the chair lift commercials on TV that advise the old folks to avoid breaking their hips with this weird old trick… “just don’t fall!” Just don’t drop or roughly handle your pistol and you won’t accidentally get shot by it; it’s just that easy! The company continues to go on about how they included (likely legally obligated) language in the user manual that it might go off if dropped.

Although the upgrade page says that MHS pistols are not effected, regular P320 pistols and X-series pistols are effected.

Following what is turning into a flood of internet rumors, memes, videos of the P320 firing when dropped, and a statement last week from Sig Sauer reaffirming the safety of the p320, the company is issuing a “voluntary upgrade” of the pistol that was recently selected for use by the US Army, Air Force, and numerous law enforcement agencies.

The P320 meets U.S. standards for safety, including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / Sporting Arms Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, Inc. (SAAMI), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), as well as rigorous testing protocols for global military and law enforcement agencies.

The design of the SIG SAUER P320 overcomes the most significant safety concern in striker-fired pistols today: the practice of pressing the trigger for disassembly. This can be performed with a round in the chamber which has resulted in numerous incidents of property damage, physical injury, and death. The disassembly process of the P320, however, uses a take-down lever rather than pressing the trigger, eliminating the possibility of discharge during the disassembly process.

Recent events indicate that dropping the P320 beyond U.S. standards for safety may cause an unintentional discharge.

As a result of input from law enforcement, government and military customers, SIG has developed a number of enhancements in function, reliability, and overall safety including drop performance. SIG SAUER is offering these enhancements to its customers. Details of this program will be available at sigsauer.com on Monday, August 14, 2017.

The M17 variant of the P320, selected by the U.S. government as the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS), is not affected by the Voluntary Upgrade.

“SIG SAUER is committed to our approach on innovation, optimization, and performance, ensuring we produce the finest possible products,” said Ron Cohen, President and CEO of SIG SAUER. “Durability, reliability and safety, as well as end-user confidence in the SIG SAUER brand are the priorities for our team.” Continue reading →

Sig Sauer’s new P320 – which won the XM17 bids for United States Army and Air Force Modular Handgun Systems and has been adopted by a number of relatively high-profile law enforcement outfits – has been facing some online heat as of late. The P320, which beat out offerings from Glock, FN, Beretta, and others, will become the US Military’s new M17 pistol to replace the Beretta M9 and Sig’s old P228 variant, the M11. The XM17 competition results were hotly contested by other manufactures, most notably Glock, who have challenged the results multiple times.

Amid internet buzz that individual owners and law enforcement armorers are concerned about how drop safe the new pistols are and which departments may or may not be abandoning the platform, Sig Sauer sent out the following release yesterday evening:

SIG SAUER Reaffirms Safety of P320 Pistol

Striker-fired pistol exceeds safety standards of ANSI/SAAMI and U.S. military testing

In response to social media rumors questioning the safety of the P320 pistol, a variant of which was selected by the U.S. government as the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System (MHS), SIG SAUER, Inc. has full confidence in the reliability, durability and safety of its striker-fired handgun platform. There have been zero (0) reported drop-related P320 incidents in the U.S. commercial market, with hundreds of thousands of guns delivered to date.

The P320 meets and exceeds all U.S. standards for safety, including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute, Inc. (SAAMI), as well as rigorous testing protocols for global military and law enforcement agencies.

All SIG SAUER pistols incorporate effective mechanical safeties to ensure they only fire when the trigger is pressed. However, like any mechanical device, exposure to acute conditions (e.g. shock, vibration, heavy or repeated drops) may have a negative effect on these safety mechanisms and cause them to not work as designed. This language is common to owner’s manuals of major handgun manufacturers.

As a result, individual attempts to perform drop tests outside of professionally controlled environments should not be attempted.

“SIG SAUER is committed to producing only the finest products,” said Ron Cohen, President and CEO of SIG SAUER. “Safety and reliability have been and always will be paramount to the SIG SAUER brand.”